This is a double-pane flash
flood tornado watch 90% chance
of warning || This is the crickets’
quickening chirps Doppler radar failed
Rorschach test the storm shudders
nuzzling into my knees-heart-headache
|| It’s always the night before
when the alarm clock mocks you. Each blink,
a full night’s rest, each pause, the lull
before a jump scare || My eyelids deal in midnight
infomercials selling lifetimes of offers
in four easy payments of go
fuck myself || This is Vesuvius this is Krakatoa
this is the television screen melting
out of its box my bowels backed up for a week
before the flight || Should my throat erupt
with ball lightning should moths
clamor at my bellybutton should
the plane’s wingtips flare with St. Elmo’s
entrails or the two-tone siren on the radio
finally mean it || Would this safety demonstration
show me how to leave myself
a neat pile of ash with ankles
sticking out || A supercell category 5
billion in damages a spontaneous date
night combustion || This basement this bathtub
this doom this Xanax this concludes
this test of the emergency alert system.